Valley Center horse rescue faces scrutiny, backlash over euthanasia

A horse rescue operation in Valley Center is facing scrutiny from at least a half-dozen local and state agencies for offenses ranging from overdue paperwork to code violations to animal cruelty.

The investigations of HiCaliber Horse Rescue were prompted by an avalanche of complaints over the last several months from competing rescue operations and horse enthusiasts and fueled by an intense Internet campaign.

They allege the organization and its head, Michelle Cochran Knuttila, have been euthanizing horses at an alarming rate. They also say she uses a business model that essentially amounts to a con game: HiCaliber will raise funds to rescue horses, sometimes specific horses, then kill them the next day and pocket the cash.

But at least one investigation has cleared the group of wrongdoing. A chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, enlisted by the County of San Diego, recently found no grounds to support allegations of animal cruelty.

“They went down there and spent the day with them and determined there was nothing to investigate any further,” said county spokesman Michael Workman.

Cochran, who goes by her maiden name, denies all animal cruelty allegations and says she and HiCaliber will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

She does admit to being delinquent in filing tax paperwork; she was ordered this week by the state Attorney General’s office to cease fundraising activities until she submits the proper federal and state tax forms.

Cochran said the relentless Internet attacks in the last six months, and recent news stories, may have doomed her operation.

“The sad thing of this whole thing is they have gained so much momentum,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “People who were friends are now foe and they have gone after us from every which way and I can't keep up anymore. I'm just buried in it.

“I'm thankful because the investigations will consistently prove we are not doing anything wrong. But I don't know that it will be soon enough. I don't know if we can survive it because we've already been hung in the eyes of the public.”

Workman said the county does have a couple other code compliance investigations ongoing. However, he said they are relatively minor and would likely not amount to anything serious enough to consider shutting the operation down.

Complaints to the county include allegations of excessive horse deaths, excessive manure, inappropriate storage of horse carcasses, and issues regarding the number of horses permitted on the property, according to documents provided by the county.

The Attorney General’s Charity Division is also investigating HiCaliber fundraising techniques, and the state’s Veterinary Medical Board is looking into possible rules violations, according to county documents Those investigations are ongoing.

Some have complained that Cochran will raise funds via Internet videos designed to rescue one particular horse, but once purchased the horse is killed or not properly cared for and the donated money is absorbed by the organization. Others say excess money raised to rescue one horse that is later adopted out, should follow that horse, but never does.

According to the online investigative news outlet inewsource, there are also reports of at least preliminary investigations being conducted by several district attorney offices in Southern California, though the offices will not confirm the investigations, which is routine.

HiCaliber has at times had more than 200 horses on its 16-acre ranch, a violation of county code. Cochran said they are working with the county to reduce the number of animals on the property to 100, and to get that properly permitted.

They will often travel to auctions where they find themselves competing with “kill buyers” who want to take the horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada where they will be made into dog food.

Cochran’s organization will use donated money, purchase the horses and take them back to the ranch. Some horses, she says, can’t be rehabilitated for a number of reasons but she believes killing those horses — a gunshot to the head -- is more humane than forcing them into a long haul to a slaughterhouse.

“We’ve said from the beginning we're cleaning up society's mess,” she said. “We specifically seek out horses that are suffering that need to be relieved of that suffering rather through rehabilitation or euthanasia. We don't discriminate.”

She said about 17 percent of the rescued horses are put down.

Cochran is in some ways a larger-than-life character. Prone to extreme profanity and an in-your-face attitude, she thinks her interpersonal skills are the cause of many of HiCaliber’s problems.

“We are very edgy and outspoken and don't generally play by the politically correct, rainbow-and-butterfly rules,” she said. “And that threatens people. They look at me and ask, how is this girl with tattoos, piercings and purple hair able to come onto the scene and drop all these F-bombs and sweep all our numbers?”

She said HiCaliber’s success has angered many in the field and has been the object of scorn by some for a long time

Four years ago, she asked the Union-Tribune not to report the exact location of her operation because of all the haters out there who didn’t like HiCaliber’s methods, partly because HiCaliber was getting donations that had been going elsewhere.

Cochran said in a good month, as much as $85,000 could be raised by the organization, but starting about a half-year ago, when the Internet attacks began to multiply and investigations began, fundraising began to suffer.

Cochran says the goal of the rescue is two-fold. Ideally, a horse can be saved, rehabilitated and then adopted out. Many other rescue operations, she says, stay away from hopeless cases because they don’t want to get involved in the euthanasia controversy for the very reason that HiCaliber is now facing.

“There is a lot of public backlash with euthanasia,” she said. “People don't want to know, they don't want to face the reality. When the alternative is slaughter or suffering, we have taken a stand and said euthanasia has to be an option. You have to hate slaughter and suffering more than you hate euthanasia.

"If it’s going to cost $25,000 to save one horse, we feel that that money is better spent saving 20 horses."

She said HiCaliber will also rescue horses that are indeed hopeless and must be put down. Better that, she said, then to let them suffer for days or weeks or months before eventually being slaughtered.